This is one of my favourite texts in general, let alone in post-modernism, Eminem is possibly one of the most famous (or infamous) hip-hop artists of all time and causes a great deal of controversy with his music among critics and music audiences alike. His music more often than not is greatly self reflexive and documents or tells the story of his own life, almost like an auto-biographical rap. He is also known for having several aliases such as Eminem (obviously), Slim Shady and Marshall Mathers, the latter of which being his real name, however, the latter probably being his least well known identity.
Most of the controversy surrounding his music regards violence towards women and his own family as well as politically incorrect notions towards homosexuals and the government. Although, despite how this sounds, his lyrical delivery and the context in which he writes and presents his records makes his views and opinions clear and understandable (in my opinion) as well as simply escaping the normal R&B music and creating something interesting and different.
Eminem can be seen as a misogynist however this is often toned down in his videos by comedy such as parody of famous figures, for example Elvis and Batman's accomplice, Robin to name a couple, and this is only an accusation made by a handful of critics.
Slim Shady is not all about promoting violence and anger though, in the single 'Like Toy Soldiers' he speaks of how he tries to calm a violent collaboration of rappers and numerous feuds that are going on in the world of hip-hop.
One of his most post-modern traits is his ridiculous self parody in some of his music videos such as 'Without Me', 'The Real Slim Shady' and 'Just Lose It', where he often plays a comedic character in an over exaggerated way and in some ways this adds to the meaning of his music and shows that he in no way takes himself too seriously, for example he isn't attempting to be a 'black rapper' and imitate the role of figures such as 50 Cent or even more underground hip-hop artists such as Jedi Mind Tricks or Army Of The Pharoahs.
Nice one Jake. You win the prize!
ReplyDelete'Brand Eminem' is certainly an interesting postmodern phenomenon. He is a king of intertextuality too-loads of r
Great article in the media magazine on this and his links to postmodernism called 'Hiphops Lord of Misrule'. Check it out - you could use him asone of your examples for the exam.